In the coming week, Southern Nazarene University (SNU) will be offering a workshop for students preparing to take the General Record Examination (GRE). It is a 7-week course designed to prepare students who plan to apply for graduate school for the basic test that most graduate programs require students to take in order to apply. The course will be led by SNU faculty with the goal of “increasing scores and decreasing stress.”
The GRE workshop is for any student that wants to prepare for the GRE but is specifically aimed at juniors and seniors. The class, which will take place at SNU, is $175 for SNU students and comes with study materials as well as a practice test.
The GRE is incredibly important for students who are not only looking to enter graduate programs but to receive funding while they are in school. Junior English major, Jess Vernier, expressed her nervousness at the idea of this test, saying that she “didn’t even know this test existed until a few months ago.”
The workshop gives students the opportunity to learn about what the test expects. Dr. Gina Weaver, who will be leading the class alongside Dr. Zoller, described the test as the SAT on steroids, which can be extremely daunting for students. The goal of this workshop is to equip the students with the tools they need to walk into the test confidently.
The cost of the workshop is relatively affordable considering the resources and class time that the cost covers. When asked if the workshop is genuinely effective, Dr. Weaver responded with a hesitant and conditional yes.
“It all depends on what the student puts into it,” Dr. Weaver remarked, “ if you go to the classes and just learn what the questions are asking for, it will definitely help.” The students who get the exposure to the questions will be at an advantage, and the students who apply themselves to studying and creating strategies have a better chance of improving their scores.
The GRE workshop is offered every spring at SNU, and the instructors have seen positive results in many of their students. For some students, like Jess Vernier, this workshop is about more than just her score on the GRE. She said that she will be attending this workshop “not necessarily to get into a good grad program, but to prepare for the level of difficulty in graduate school.”
This workshop is an affordable way to get experience with the type of questions that the GRE will be asking. If you are looking for a way to reduce your test-taking anxiety and get helpful strategies for taking the GRE, this workshop will be worth the time and money. To sign up, go to snu.edu/gre-prep-workshop
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